Story 1: New startup headed by NASA veterans wants to build a huge ring-shaped hotel to orbit the Earth
Source: Futurism.com Story by Victor Tangermann
Link: https://futurism.com/the-byte/startup-successfully-tests-space-hotel-building-robot
Source 2: HIConsumption.com Story by Tim Huber
Link: https://hiconsumption.com/orbital-assembly-voyager-space-station/
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl3I9ntRXqc
Orbital Assembly Corporation, a new startup company, recently announced a major step toward reaching their goal to build a ring-shaped luxury hotel in space.
They now have developed a prototype robot that is capable of producing parts for
the orbiting hotel to be assembled in space.
The company, run by NASA veterans, has some ambitious goals:
It’s looking to start construction in space as soon as 2023.
Named the Voyager Space Station, it will be a massive circular luxury space hotel that spans 650 feet.
And the Orbital Assembly Corporation team claims it will be the first habitable space station orbiting the Earth with artificial gravity.
To construct the huge space station the team plans to send semi-autonomous robots to space and have them put the various parts together in orbit.
The station will be made up of a large outer rim that’s linked to modular pod units for guests.
In addition to restaurants, theaters, shops, boutiques, and spas, the space station will also include a 400-guest hotel and luxury villas that will be available through short and long-term leasing programs.
And by using reusable rockets to facilitate travel to and from the station the team hopes to make space tourism more affordable.
Story 2: Lightest Sound Insulation Ever Created Will Make Aircraft Engines 80% Quieter
Source: PC Magazine Story by: Matthew Humphries
Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK seem to have achieved a way to reduce aircraft engine noise by up to 80% while adding almost no extra weight.
The research team at the University of Bath developed a graphene oxide-polyvinyl alcohol aerogel, which only weighs 4.6lbs per cubic meter and therefore makes it the lightest sound insulation ever manufactured.
The team managed to produce such an extremely low density by using a liquid combination of graphene oxide and a polymer, which are formed with whipped air bubbles and freeze casted.
On a very basic level, the technique can be compared with whipping egg whites to create meringues – it’s solid but contains a lot of air, so there is no weight or efficiency penalty to achieve big improvements in comfort and noise.
Adding the aerogel insulation to the engines on a commercial aircraft would reduce noise by up to 80% or 16 decibels.
It means the “105-decibel roar of a jet engine taking off” would instead sound like your typical hair dryer.
Story 3: Smart foam material gives robotic hand the ability to self-repair
Source: Reuters Story by Travis Teo and Lee Ying Shan
National University of Singapore researchers have developed a smart foam material that allows robots to sense nearby objects, and repairs itself when damaged, just like human skin.
Artificially innervated foam, or AiFoam, is a highly elastic polymer created by mixing fluoropolymer with a compound that lowers surface tension.
This allows the spongy material to fuse easily into one piece when cut.
To replicate the human sense of touch, the researchers infused the material with microscopic metal particles and added tiny electrodes underneath the surface of the foam.
When pressure is applied, the metal particles draw closer within the polymer matrix, changing their electrical properties. These changes can be detected by the electrodes connected to a computer, which then tells the robot what to do.
This feature enables the robotic hand to detect not only the amount but also the direction of applied force, potentially making robots more intelligent and interactive.
The new AiFoam is the first of its kind to combine both self-healing properties and proximity and pressure sensing.
After spending over two years developing it, the team hopes the material can be put to practical use within five years.
Story 4: New Drone Tracks Human Screams to Save Lives
Source: Engadget Story by Igor Bonifacic
Link: https://www.engadget.com/researchers-made-a-drone-that-can-locate-screaming-humans-204643811.html
A team of researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer FKIE institute has created a drone that can locate screaming humans.
The goal is to make it easier for first responders to find survivors in situations such as the tragic Florida high rise building collapse.
To create their drone, the researchers first recorded themselves screaming, tapping and producing other sounds that someone in need of help might make.
They then used those recordings to train an artificial intelligence algorithm to filter out ambient sounds like the hum of the drone’s rotors.
The team then equipped the drones with microphones like those used for smartphones.
The researchers conducted several successful open field tests in which their drone managed to estimate someone’s location “within a few seconds” of picking up the sounds they were making.
Story 5: World’s first wooden satellite aims to prove plywood can survive space
Source: C/Net Story by Amanda Kooser
An ambitious project will send a tiny wooden satellite into orbit later this year to see if it can stand up to the brutal conditions of space.
The WISA Woodsat is a 4-inch square birch plywood satellite designed by the Heureka Science Center at Vanataa, Finland.
And it’s already survived a test run into the stratosphere.
It’s scheduled for a fall launch into space from a facility in New Zealand.
Once it’s in orbit, the team will monitor the little cube to see how its birch plywood construction stands up to cold, heat, radiation and the vacuum of space.
The plywood satellite’s only non-wood parts are aluminum rails on the outside needed to release the satellite into space and an extendable selfie stick that will hold a camera pointed back at the body.
Story 6: Drones are helping to clean up the world’s plastic pollution
Source: CNN Story by Nell Lewis
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/europe/ellipsis-drone-plastic-pollution-c2e-spc-intl/index.html
Last time we talked about drones for search and rescue that can detect people screaming.
Here’s another innovative use of sophisticated detection technology combined with the versatility of drones – this time to help fight plastic waste.
UK-based startup Ellipsis Earth has developed drones fitted with cameras designed to fly over and capture deposits of plastic waste, for example, on beaches.
Images captured by the drones are then analyzed by their image recognition software, which is able to identify the type of plastic, its size, and in some cases, even the brand or origin of the trash.
In a demonstration the Ellipsis Earth team showed how their software identified everything from a bottle cap, toothbrush, and fishing net, to a food wrapper, various plastic bottles and even a coil of rusted wire in a pile of waste on a beach!
The startup has undertaken projects all over the world — from the UK coastline to the banks of the Ganges River in India.
Story 7: Smart Fibers Could Turn Army Uniforms into Wearable Computers
Source: Popular Mechanics Story by Kyle Mizokami
The U.S. Army—in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–
has developed a technology for smart clothing fibers that could transform uniforms into wearable computers.
The new electronic textiles could be used to:
Power sensors;
collect data on the wearer and his or her environment;
and transmit that data back to headquarters.
The fibers could also warn the wearer of dangers ahead—like chemical weapons attacks—and mark the wearer’s location for the rest of the team.
The polymer fibers contain hundreds of tiny silicon microchips that, once electrically activated, can sustain a digital connection across tens of meters.
This fiber is thin and flexible, and can pass through a needle, be sewn into fabrics, and washed at least 10 times without breaking down.
It can also act as a digital storage device.
The fiber can power artificial intelligence applications, collecting data that an algorithm could later interpret to detect changes in both the wearer, and the wearer’s environment.
Story 8: The World’s First Lab Grown Meat Factory Just Opened Up
Source: Futurism.com Story by Victor Tangermann
Link: https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-first-lab-grown-meat-factory
Israeli biotech company Future Meat has opened what it claims to be the world’s first industrial cultured meat facility.
They say the facility is capable of producing 1,100 pounds of lab grown meat products a day, or roughly the equivalent of 3,000 medium-sized hamburgers.
Cultured Beef, for example, is created by painlessly harvesting muscle cells from a living cow. Scientists then feed and nurture the cells so they multiply to create muscle tissue, which is the main component of the meat we eat
The company claims cultured meat generates 80 percent less greenhouse emissions, uses 99 percent less land, and consumes 96 percent less water than traditional meat production.
In addition to beef, the factory can produce cell-based chicken, pork, and lamb products.
The company also claims the process is about 20 times faster than raising animals and then slaughtering them.
Story 9: New space telescope could spot potentially hazardous asteroids heading for Earth
Source: CNN Story by Ashley Strickland
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/14/world/nasa-asteroid-neo-surveyor-telescope-scn/index.html
NASA’s new infrared space telescope with the mission to spot potentially hazardous asteroids and comets heading for Earth is one step closer to reality.
The Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope, or NEO Surveyor, has been approved by NASA to move forward to the design phase.
The 20-foot-long infrared telescope would bolster planetary defense by helping astronomers find asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.
Note:
An infrared telescope is a telescope that uses infrared light to detect celestial bodies.
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than those of visible light.
NEO Surveyor will have the capability to rapidly accelerate the rate at which NASA is able to discover asteroids and comets that could pose a hazard to the
Earth.
Story 10: New Reactor May Have Finally Solved Nuclear Fusion’s Biggest Problem
Source: Popular Mechanics Story by Caroline Delbert
Link: https://bit.ly/3hlYS8N
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSYxBYYXwcU
Nuclear fusion is the process that happens in the sun where light elements fuse together to release energy and create larger elements.
Nuclear fusion could bring us abundant, low-carbon energy – but to make nuclear fusion power plants a reality a way must be found to deal with the white-hot plasma within a nuclear fusion reactor that can reach 100 million degrees Fahrenheit or more.
That heat results in wear and tear on a reactor’s components.
Now scientists at the UK’s Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in England might have just found the key to unlocking a cooler future for nuclear fusion.
The research team recently enhanced an existing Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak reactor with a new heat exhaust system, called the Super-X diverter.
The new Super-X diverter, they claim, greatly reduces heat impact on all of the spherical tokamak’s parts.
According to the lead scientist for the project – the new Super-X exhaust system for nuclear fusion reactors reduces the heat handled by the exhaust system from a blowtorch level down to more like you’d find in a car engine.
Story 11: New technology can make water in a desert using only sunlight and air
Source: CNN Story by Ana De Oliva
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/30/middleeast/source-global-dubai-spc-intl/index.html
Many companies around the world have created solutions to extract water from the air.
But, the solutions offered to date are based on based on condensation and consume a lot of electricity – and many only work in places with high air humidity.
A company called SOURCE Global has developed a new solution called Hydropanels which are powered by built-in solar panels that power a fan that draws in air.
Inside the device, the air travels through a sponge-like material that traps the water vapor.
As it is collected, magnesium and calcium are added to the water to improve its taste and provide possible health benefits.
The company’s largest water farm is in Dubai, where there is very little humidity. Using their technology, they can produce 1.5 million liters of water every year.
Story 12: Sweat-proof “smart skin” takes reliable vitals, even during workouts
Source: MIT News Story by Jennifer Chu
Link: https://news.mit.edu/2021/smart-skin-vitals-0630
MIT engineers and researchers in South Korea have developed a sweat-proof “electronic skin”.
The new synthetic skin is a conformable, sensor-embedded sticky patch that
monitors a person’s health without malfunctioning or peeling away, even when a wearer is perspiring.
The new e-skin’s flexibility and ability to withstand sweat, enables it to monitor a person’s health over long periods of time, which has not been possible with previous “e-skin” designs.
This marks a step toward long-lasting smart skins that may track daily vitals or the progression skin cancer and other conditions.
How it is made:
The researchers pioneered a technique called remote epitaxy, which involves growing ultrathin, high-quality semiconductor films on wafers at high temperature and selectively peeling away the films, which they can then combine and stack to form sensors far thinner and more flexible than conventional wafer-based designs.
The researchers tested the e-skin by sticking it to a volunteer’s wrist and forehead for a week.
The new e-skin reliably measured his temperature, hydration levels, UV exposure, and pulse, even during sweat-inducing activities.
Story 13: Tesla Cybertruck retractable solar bed cover revealed in patent
Source: Electrek.com Story by Fred Lambert
Link: https://electrek.co/2021/05/27/tesla-cybertruck-retractable-solar-bed-cover-revealed-patent/
After the launch of the Cybertruck, CEO Elon Musk surprised many when he said that Tesla’s new electric pickup truck will have a solar roof option that will add 15 miles of range per day.
In 2017, Musk said that he pushed his Tesla engineers to look into integrating solar cells on Model 3, but they concluded that it wasn’t worth it at the time.
Solar cell efficiency has since improved, and Tesla developed its own expertise in embedding solar cells through the development of solar roof tiles.
The design for the truck’s solar bed cover is remarkable, as it can be retracted and rolled into a cylinder form and stored withing the truck’s body. Like rolling up a venetian blind.
When deployed the solar panel bed cover is strong enough for someone to stand on!
Story 14: Two Oregon Institute of Technology students want to turn farm waste into biomass gas that can generate electricity
Source: inventOR.org Story by Jonathan Stull
Link: https://www.inventoregon.org/post/crop-waste-makes-clean-energy-for-biomass-gas
At this year’s Invent Oregon Collegiate Challenge in June two Oregon Institute of Technology students [Aaron West and Darby Twight] showcased an energy generation system they call Biomass Gas.
Their innovative system is fueled by gas that can be created by using the agricultural waste from large-scale operations like farms and logging outfits.
Here’s how it works:
The Biomass Gas team is working with a farm in Klamath Falls to source crop residue, like stalks and stubble.
This refuse is often burned in the fields, but the Biomass Gas system the students developed offers a sophisticated generator that can burn this refuse to efficiently produce what is called “syngas”.
The syngas, in turn, can then be used in an electrical generator to produce sustainable clean power.
By the way, syngas, or synthesis gas, is a fuel gas mixture consisting primarily of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and very often some carbon dioxide.